Anthropic’s earnings overtake OpenAI’s for the first time: ‘revenue engine’

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Anthropic has reportedly overtaken OpenAI in quarterly sales for the first time — a stunning reversal for the ChatGPT maker in its bitter rivalry with the startup founded by a group of its former employees.

Anthropic more than doubled its revenue to $11.6 billion during its second quarter and reported a small adjusted profit, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That was well above OpenAI’s second-quarter revenue of $6.7 billion — an 18% increase from the previous quarter’s $5.7 billion, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI said in March that it closed a financing deal with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation.

Anthropic followed in May with a $65 billion funding round at a $965 billion post-money valuation — putting the breakaway rival’s latest announced private valuation above OpenAI’s.

Now, Anthropic’s second-quarter figures show it pulling ahead on reported revenue, too.

OpenAI’s operating loss, including stock-based compensation, widened to $12.3 billion during the quarter from $9.3 billion in the first quarter, according to the Journal.

Anthropic, meanwhile, reported an adjusted profit and told investors it had made progress using computing resources more efficiently, though the Journal said the company’s methodology for calculating the profit was not disclosed.

“Hundreds of millions of free chatbot users represent OpenAI’s head start, but they don’t generate revenue. They only generate cost,” Rob Collie, a former Microsoft executive and founding engineer on Power BI who now runs consulting firm P3 Adaptive, told The Post.

“A paying business customer with AI wired into their workflow is a revenue engine,” he said.

“Same core AI technology, two very different businesses – and this quarter, we found out which one is a better business.”

Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of product design firm RKS Design, said OpenAI’s early dominance was no guarantee it would remain on top.

“OpenAI created the category, but creating a category doesn’t guarantee you own it forever,” Sawhney told The Post.

“The question eventually shifts from ‘Who has the technology?’ to ‘Who has built the product, service or brand that people actually want to use?’”

Sawhney credited Anthropic with recognizing that shift earlier, pointing specifically to its Claude Code product.

“They didn’t simply build another powerful model; they focused on a very specific problem where AI could create immediate, measurable value,” he said.

The results mark a dramatic shift in a corporate war that has been brewing since late 2020, when Anthropic boss Dario Amodei — then OpenAI’s vice president of research — and several colleagues left the company amid disagreements over its direction, governance and approach to AI safety.

Anthropic launched the following year, with Amodei as CEO and his sister Daniela Amodei as president. They promised to put safety at the center of the company’s approach as it emerged as a rival to the company led by Sam Altman.

The two firms have since become fierce competitors for AI talent, corporate customers and investor dollars — while the relationship between Altman and Amodei has grown increasingly contentious.

Sawhney said OpenAI may have lost focus as the AI market matured and corporate customers began looking beyond technological prowess.

“Where I think OpenAI got distracted was trying to be too many things to too many people while the market was beginning to mature,” Sawhney said.

“Being the most recognizable AI company is enormously valuable, but recognition isn’t the same as preference or trust.”

The rivalry reached a remarkable turning point during OpenAI’s chaotic boardroom crisis in November 2023, when directors ousted Altman and subsequently approached Amodei about replacing him as CEO, according to Reuters.

The board also discussed a possible merger between OpenAI and Anthropic, but Amodei rejected both overtures, Reuters reported.

Earlier this year, Anthropic used Super Bowl ads to mock the prospect of advertising inside AI assistants while promising to keep Claude ad-free.

Altman fired back that the campaign’s portrayal of OpenAI was “clearly dishonest” and accused Anthropic of “doublespeak.”

The Post has sought comment from OpenAI and Anthropic.